Harlem Globetrotters player visits Montreal highschool
Posted March 15, 2023 8:01 pm.
The student basketball team at Beurling Academy in Verdun got a special visit from Harlem Globetrotter Maxwell Pearce aka Hops on their lunch break Wednesday. It was Hops’ talked about his experience with sports and how they can help students persevere and succeed in life.
“It’s great for them to be able to have played and come here and see someone from the Globe organization to just speak about his life and where he came from, about high school so they can relate and see that their dream can also be reached,” says Vonrick D. Hoyte, the coach of the school’s basketball team.
“Student outreach is one of the most important things because, when I was a kid I was super shy, one of the things that were able to help me to get out of my shell and comfort zone was to engage in something like this. I needed somebody to show themselves as an example of what can happen when you step out of your comfort zone,” says Maxwell Pearce the Pro-Basketballer of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Hops says student outreach is important to develop confidence in the minds of the younger generation and help them be better people when the ball stops bouncing.
“It felt amazing, he thought me many life lessons, that it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, you know, he thought me how to take it easy in life, one step then the next step,” says Thomas Ronnell, a grade 11 student who is on the basketball team.
One of the coaches says this is a way of getting the students more motivated in schoolwork.
“It gets them involved, we went from coaching a season to having an inter-mural basketball season, kids who weren’t showing up to school are now involved, Its good for their involvement at school,” says Sarah Naderpour One of the basketball coaches for the school.
The Harlem Globetrotters return to Montreal on March 31st at the Bell Centre.
